The Stolen City

Traffic lights and parking cones
Picket fences, family homes
The police around all the time
Don't need 'em 'cause we got no crime

No dirty money in the vault
At least no dignitaries know
Keep profits high and margins low
And keep 'em in a strangle hold

Don't need no coaching, we got our own

Keep our children centerfold
At least that's what the picture shows
Keep education on the roll
To sell more houses, bought ours so low

Keep all our kids on medication
Ensure they don't go misbehaving
They say the problems in our history
What came before us can't just go missing

But we've done our praying, please don't go digging

Set fire to the village wall
What else you build the city on
If not, a pile of broken bones
Don't need these people, we got our own

We let the dead do all the wishing
So we can start a brand-new system
We'll forge their headstones on our floor
And stomp until our feet are sore

Red brick buildings ain't got no soul
Don't need no future, already took it

Turn down the lights and kiss your families
You woke up in the soulless city
We try our best to move along
By that I mean wipe your existence

From off the slate of history's walls
Can't let your moment tarnish ours
It pays to play the game of business
Choose who gets pardoned, who gets evicted

White picket fences and broken homes
Force-fed religion and armed with stones
We still reside in your soulless city